Enter
ad absurdum of the modern political media. All he was hoping to
convey was that recent mishegas
about Obamacare has created a
situation in which perceptions of
the Democrats’ ability to govern
efficiently have been undermined.
That’s fairly true. Fresh from a
government-shutdown standoff
in which they drew a line in the
sand, held it with public support,
and briefly revived some hope that
their party might outperform expectations in the upcoming midterms, Democrats are now in a
panicky disarray, and may sign on
in large numbers to a legislative
“fix” that could potentially make
matters worse.
But the funny thing about everyone who’s since reduced this
whole idea to “Obama’s healthcare
law is exactly like that time President George W. Bush and his administration failed to respond to a
disaster that killed many hundreds
of people,” is that they are also
right. Obama will pay the same
personal cost over the Affordable Care Act’s bungled rollout as
Bush did for his Katrina response.
Which is to say, no cost at all.
I don’t think people actually realize just how toothless the whole
“Obama’s Katrina” metaphor re-
LOOKING FORWARD
IN ANGST
HUFFINGTON
11.24-12.01.13
ally is. Yes, it’s pretty exciting to
have so many people finally admit
that Bush’s Katrina response was
a bad thing. But what are they really saying? Basically, this: “Oh,
man, if things keep going the way
they’re going, President Obama
runs the risk of ending up a superwealthy American celebrity who
will want for nothing and whose
family will always have health
insurance.” I’ve said this before,
Obama will pay the
sa